To help you understand the value of art and design, we’ve spoken to a number of professionals who still use the skills, qualities and knowledge they gained from the subject at school in the work they do today. Turn over to find out who they are, what they do and what they had to say…..

Art & Design?

The Civil Engineer As a Civil Engineer who specialises in designing bridges, I am interested in configurations of elements and how well components meet each other. For me, art combines well with the sciences in school because, in my role, sciences are used artistically to design structures.

Angus Low, Civil Engineer, RSA Fellow

The Ceramic ArtistAs a ceramic artist, in order to make my work in porcelain I need to generate lots of different ideas, styles and colours and then plan and design my creation. Art at school was a great foundation for this skill. It doesn’t matter whether I am great at drawing, but it is important that I observe my surroundings and make drawings to capture ideas I am interested in.

Karen Marks, Ceramic Artist at Karen Marks Ceramics

The Film ProducerThe skills I learnt studying art at school underpin my ability to correspond with set designers, and lighting and sound designers. In my role, I sketch storyboards of shot sequences for a movie or TV commercial rather than just describe it in words.

Neville Wortman, Film/TV Producer

Digital Media Assistant The art skills I learnt in school and throughout higher education are very useful in my day-to-day work. For example, I use my knowledge of colour theory to decide the best colours to use for a logo or poster, and I use lino printing to make custom cards. In my opinion, the more processes and tools you have in your wheelhouse, the more options you have to draw upon and offer to a potential project.

Rachel Mayes, Digital Media Assistant at the Institute for Environmental Analytics/Self Employed Graphic Designer

The Global Marketing DirectorI studied history of art A-level at sixth form college, and now I’m Global Marketing Director for the world’s leading auction house. I market and promote art every day, thinking about the artist, the type of work, and the theme or story the artist is telling. I then target the right audience who would be interested in buying the work

Sarah Briggs, Global Marketing Director at Tate Modern

The Account ManagerIn visual merchandising we balance a visual representation of a brand with commerciality. How do we creatively tell a story to a customer? How do we make the customer feel that we are talking directly to them, using images, words, symbols, colour and space? Can we use colour to influence a mood? Can we adapt space to steer a customer’s journey? We take a brief and creatively solve a problem, considering these questions. Studying art at school helped me to develop these skills.

Stacey Appleby, Account Manager at TRC Ltd

Head of Jewellery DesignI am currently employed as Head of Jewellery Design for a luxury goods company and although I didn’t study jewellery design at school, choosing to take art GCSE and then art A-level was definitely a stepping stone for applying to take an art foundation course. This exposed me to lots of different options I hadn’t know existed before, which in turn led me to apply for a degree course in Jewellery Design and Making at Central Saint Martins - University of the Arts London.

Nicola Sanderson, Head of Jewellery Design at William & Son

The Digital DesignerWhilst studying art and graphic design at school, I used programs such as CAD and Adobe Photoshop. This gave me a base knowledge which I later built on throughout university and postgraduate design jobs. Now I use Adobe software on a daily basis and am fully fluent in most programs thanks to learning the basics. This set me up for easier understanding later in my career.

Gemma Buss, Digital Designer at Penguin Random House UK

The Vice PresidentStudying art exposed me to all aspects of design, meaning that I had a good understanding and appreciation of form, function, colour, technical design, space and aesthetics. I have since had many roles within the fashion industry in which I’ve needed to use my drawing skills.

Lise Edwards-Warrener, Burberry Vice President (Internal Manufacturing) at Burberry

Digital Media AssistantStudying graphic design led me to my current career path as a designer, and learning about DT and maths has proven very useful to me. From needing to know print proportions and ratios, to being able to use three-dimensional letters made in a wood shop for a poster design, the more techniques and processes I’ve learned and the richer my ideas and options have been for my clients.

Rachel Mayes, Digital Media Assistant at the Institute of Environmental Analytics

The Director (Fine Art)Working in an auction house, I have the opportunity to handle original artworks every single day. If we are not cataloguing artworks (measuring their size, describing their medium and subject matter), then we are looking at images of art that clients email us for valuation. This makes any day at work quite exciting because if, like me, you like art, your day is full of it from start to finish. Being able to touch and inspect artworks from up close is the best part of my job.

Martina Batovic, Director at Bonhams Auction House

What’s the point in art & design?

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